Papua New Guinea formed a multilateral conference tasked with creating a government policy to address the issue of gun violence.
The conference is made up of members from the U.N., E.U., and the Papua New Guinea Defense Force (PNGDF) to address ownership of guns.
“This is the first real attempt put together by the UN and EU in support of the PNG government to address the proliferation of small arms all over the country,” RNZ correspondent Scott Waide said.
“The idea is to develop a strategy to control the proliferation of small arms and the widespread use of rifles and pistols throughout all of the provinces,” Waide said, providing more details about the plan.
Former PNGDF commander Jerry Singirok claimed the country is “dragging its feet” on this issue. Singirok wrote a gun control report in 2005, banning the general public from owning firearms.
According to reports from the Global Organized Crime Index, Papua New Guinea ranked number 2 in the world for gun crime, with the first being Venezuela.
